BBM 2.0 update brings BBM Voice and Channels to Android and iOS

BlackBerry will make the BBM 2.0 update available sometime today, February 13, on both Android and iOS platforms.

The update will allow BBM users to make free voice calls over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G using BBM Voice, and offer access to BBM Channels.

“Today’s announcement gives Android and iPhone customers the rich experience of BBM Voice and BBM Channels – two great ways to connect with friends, family and colleagues,” said John Sims, President and Global Enterprise Solutions at BlackBerry. “BBM continues to quickly evolve as a social mobile platform for consumers as well as for business customers through innovative features that give you great ways to connect.”

BBC Channels is a way to chat with people who have a common interest. Channels are sorted by topic and can be interacted with in a similar way to Facebook Pages of brands and the like.

Anyone can create a BBM Channel and you’ll be able to control the conversations that go on within them. As you can with your Facebook Pages, the BBM Channels have an in-built performance dashboard .

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Aside from BBM Channels and BBM Voice, the update will also introduce the ability to share your location from within the BBM app.

The location sharing is powered by Glympse and could come in useful when alerting your friends to the fact you might be running a little bit later. You can choose to only share your location for specific time periods, which is a useful feature.

You’ll also get BBM Dropbox support and 100 new emoticons to express yourself with, you lucky devils.